12 Rules For Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Dr. Jordan B Peterson

A Book Review by Jamie Runey

As many of you are well-aware, I read a lot. In fact, I read about 20 books a year and have found numerous sources of inspiration, happiness and thoughtful insight from many of these books. So much so, that our entire team has committed to each individual reading at least one book a quarter in order to improve ourselves, our service to you, and the experience we provide for you.

With that being said, we thought that from time to time, you may be interested in learning about a few of the more notable books that we read. The latest such book was one I read called “12 Rules For Life: An Antidote to Chaos,” by Dr. Jordan B Peterson.

Peterson is a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, a clinical psychologist, a public speaker, and an author. He started to gain notoriety with his contributions to the website Quora. His posts are still among the most read forums on the website and were the genesis for the “12 Rules For Life” book. In addition, Peterson started recording his university lectures on YouTube in 2013, and his YouTube channel has gathered more than 1.8 million subscribers and his videos have received more than 65 million views as of August 2018.

This book is certainly not a causal read. It is a deep, thought provoking book, which caused me to pause and think about many aspects of my life in a profoundly different way. Overall, it is an enjoyable book, but it is heavy and many times dark and sobering. It addresses many of the issues we have in society today and expresses Peterson’s solutions to fix them. It is a hybrid self-improvement / philosophical book as it explores matters ranging from the following:

Forming better relationships with yourself and others, with a special emphasis on philosophies for raising children;

Finding meaning in your life; and

Theorizing that society is fracturing as we try to include smaller and small groups of people who either do not want to or will never fit into traditional categories.

It seems that Peterson has caused quite a stir with this book as many groups in society feel it is very controversial. In the end, if you are looking for ideas on a different way to live your life or for a book that takes on many of the high-profile issue that plague our society, this may be the book for you. But tread lightly. It is not for everyone!